


Wound Up

by axolotl119



Series: Hades College AU [1]
Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: hypnos centric with light ship stuff, idk I wrote most of this in the middle of the night, look. I have feelings about hypnos, mostly just a character exploration of hypnos in this au, occurs before the other two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:27:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28708143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/axolotl119/pseuds/axolotl119
Summary: Hypnos has some thoughts. They’ve been weighing on him for a while.
Relationships: Hypnos & Thanatos (Hades Video Game), Hypnos & Zagreus (Hades Video Game), Hypnos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Series: Hades College AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2093121
Comments: 3
Kudos: 78





	Wound Up

**Author's Note:**

> sorry I’m shit at summaries but um. yeah thanks for choosing to read. I really been on a roll lately and for what??? idk. maybe more written children coming soon. I care Hypnos and zagreus so muchly and I want y’all to know I was crying over hypnos when I first started writing this and I think it shows. thank u to jem for being the best and minyo if ur out there I would die for u. comments and kudos feed my will to write and are appreciated :)

Hypnos was, for the most part, the easiest-to-ignore member of his family. He figured it was to be expected, when his mother and siblings all did such notable and interesting things. His mother had managed to turn the family fortunes from “land rich” to “nouveau riche”, his older brother Charon had a successful restaurant and had managed to land himself on the covers of several magazines, and Thanatos was the “rising star”, the one destined to next make a name for himself.

And Hypnos was, well… Hypnos.

He liked to sleep and he liked to watch YouTube videos and he liked getting high behind the bleachers and taking shitty ass Snapchat selfies and saving them because he had no one else to send them to. He was iffy on the subject of school, but he understood most concepts with little to no effort on the part of his (long-suffering) teachers, so he figured it was… okay, at least.

As far as college was concerned, he wasn’t. Concerned, that is. Thanatos had spent years choosing the perfect college and acquiring the perfect resume, and Hypnos had kinda hoped he might be able to take a couple culinary classes at the local community college then get his brother to hire him as the potato peeler or something. Easy, simple plan.

He really should’ve taken a picture of the look on his family’s faces when he announced this over dinner one evening. He didn’t really think his mother had an even more disappointed face than the one she usually used with him, specifically, but he guessed he was wrong about that.

So that’s how Hypnos ended up writing his major college essay and four supplemental essays in one night. At the very least, Charon took pity on him and gave him three energy drinks from his personal stash before he went to bed. Charon was, Hypnos decided, his nicest brother. Thanatos was kind of mean. Thanatos had his life together. Thanatos was going to a good school.

Hm.

Anyways.

On a whim, Hypnos looked up programs in the school Than had gotten into. Arts and Sciences. Music. Ballet- no, he hadn’t stepped foot in a studio in two years. Besides, the audition deadline was in a week. There was no way he’d learn two routines and record them in that time. Engineering.

Wait. He liked programming and stuff, right? Science came easy to him, though he was kind of the bane of science teachers everywhere. Too many questions, they always tsked. Why are you sleeping, they invariably followed up with two days later when he took to catching up on sleep instead of having to relearn the same concepts over and over again. Eventually, he’d been put in some AP science courses, and that had definitely ended his science naps. Same with math teachers, except he’d managed to persuade his counselor not to put him in the one Dual Credit Calculus his school offered. Instead he took another science class.

See, Hypnos was not the “dumb twin”. Both him and Thanatos were rather intelligent. They both got good grades. They both did well on tests. They both took the “hard” classes, though Hypnos did it more by accident and Thanatos simply liked to suffer or whatever reason someone might have for taking difficult classes on purpose. Thanatos was the better essay writer, but Hypnos could do math sums and dimensional analysis in his head much quicker. 

Different strengths and stuff. Hypnos wasn’t an English guy, he didn’t know the phrases.

Biomedical engineering. Long name, but the program seemed pretty cool. He watched videos until Nyx came in and asked if he wanted to go to school today (in a somewhat apologetic tone that implied he actually had a choice). 

He didn’t actually expect to get in. Maybe to the school itself. He had the grades and he looked good on paper and no one had caught him smoking behind the bleachers (yet) so he was, for all intents and purposes, a model student. 

On the designated Friday he hurried to the computer lab and typed in his username and password for the admissions portal with shaky fingers. After taking a deep, steadying breath- why was he this nervous? It’s not like he’d put a lot of effort into this application. He didn’t even expect to get in- he clicked the large  **ADMISSION DECISION** button.

Later, he’d watch everyone else’s admission decision videos and wonder if maybe being a self-proclaimed loner was a bad thing. He didn’t have friends to cheer him on or family to hug and cry.

He just sat at a computer, smiled for a couple minutes, then hurriedly signed off and went back to class.

When he showed it to his mom, they also noticed that he’d received some sort of scholarship. Than didn’t seem thrilled and Charon was at the restaurant.

The next day, his grandparent showed up. Chaos was, as always, dressed in an outfit that really could only work on them and accessories to match, and gave him a present when he opened the door.

“You are going to college.” They said with a hint of pride breaking their monotone, and Hypnos smiled and nodded. “Good. You’ll be happier there.”

With that, they swept into the house, putting on an apron from the coat closet as they moved to the kitchen. Hypnos scurried after them, and they showed him how to make the foods that he’d grown up with. At the end of the day, Hypnos felt slightly warmer than before.

The next couple of months passed in a haze of texts and video calls. He became somewhat popular in the student-created college group chats (mostly because he was online almost constantly. It wasn’t like he had much to do besides be on his phone), made a couple of friends- him and Than were in a small group chat with three other new students: Megaera (Meg (she/they)), Dusa (snake-charm), and Zagreus (govtassignedcatboy, a name he refused to explain).

Before he knew it, he was sitting in his dorm on campus, waiting for Meg and Dusa to arrive the next day. Their beds were nothing more than elevated frames with a mattress placed on top, while he’d already begun putting sheets on and decorating the walls with cheap washi tape. Zag had dared him to use decorations off the “banned decorations” list (command hooks, duct tape, rice cookers, etc), but Hypnos decided to lay low for the first couple of weeks. 

Then classes started.

Oh,  _ boy.  _ They really weren’t kidding when they said the classes would be harder than they were used to. Hypnos usually coasted through his classes, but those days were over. Now, he had to study and think and write 5 page essays every week (every week! what the fuck!). Thanatos handled it with grace, only lightly complaining about how difficult it was to reserve library spaces for studying. Meg didn’t say much about it all, and Dusa was so excited about her classes she would speak of them unprompted in places like Starbucks. Zagreus seemed to understand him, though, and his newfound hatred of academia. The two of them would often go to the Barnes and Noble downtown because it was built inside an old power plant and the aquarium was near if they wanted a study break and really, what could be cooler than a bookstore inside a former power plant?

Then they got their first midterm test results back.

If Hypnos had experienced imposter syndrome before, it was nothing compared to the feeling he had after seeing the 38 in his ‘My Grades’ tab. 

3:42

hypnos-tized: u wanna hang out?

He put his phone down and buried his face in his hands.

3:43

Thanatos (he/him): How did you do on your exam?

Hypnos sighed. Than was the last person he wanted to talk to right now.

hypnos-tized: meh hbu 

Thanatos (he/him): I got an A.

Well of course Thanatos, Mr.  _ I-use-periods-in-my-texts _ , got an  _ A _ . If he hadn’t, the world might genuinely be ending! Gods forbid he do anything wrong!

Thanatos (he/him): You should take your schoolwork more seriously. You’re always sleeping or messing around.

Hypnos decided that now was a good time to leave his phone on his bed and go get ice cream. Before he did something stupid like punch his brother in the face. He  _ was _ trying! It was just that… his trying… wasn’t good enough.

When he came back, he saw that he had notifications on his phone.

3:47

govtassignedcatboy: sure!

govtassignedcatboy: where

3:50 

govtassignedcatboy: hypnos?

govtassignedcatboy: hypnooosssssss

3:57

govtassignedcatboy: hey mate you’re the one who invited me out y’know

govtassignedcatboy: are you at least planning to give me some advanced warning before you get here

govtassignedcatboy: hypnossssss

govtassignedcatboy: than just left if that’s what was bothering u

Hypnos hurriedly responded.

4:06

hypnos-tized: sry left my phone on my bed haha omw

He pocketed his phone and went outside again, this time in the direction of Than and Zag’s dorm across campus. 

When he got to the dorm, Zag was on the floor in his and Than’s shared  _ kitchenette _ (Hypnos still had no idea what the difference between a kitchen and a kitchenette was), legs pressed up against the cabinets, watching videos from his position on the floor. When he heard Hypnos come in, he hurriedly tried to right himself and ended up in a groaning heap of limbs.

“Hypnos!” Zag greeted as he managed to stand up and lean awkwardly against the counter. “I’m sorry, I- didn’t think you’d get here so quickly!” He flushed slightly, then added, “I’m going to go get ready, uh… we’re going somewhere, right?” At Hypnos’ nod, he pushed off the counter and all but ran into his room.

They ended up at one of the nice coffee shops near campus, the kind where string lights replaced actual light fixtures and each table had a candle. Hypnos ordered a hot chocolate, while Zag got some sort of tea. They sat down at a table near the entrance, talking about everything and nothing.

“So uh…” Zag started, carefully, after a five minute lull in conversation. “How did you do on that calculus midterm?”

Hypnos’ relatively good mood soured. “Not well, but I’m sure  _ Thanatos _ told you that.”

Zag frowned. “No, actually. I was wondering because… I got a 34.” He winced.

Hypnos’ mood changed again. “Do you think there’s going to be a curve? How did everyone else do?”

They continued talking about their calculus class until nothing else could be said, then sat in comfortably awkward silence for a couple of minutes.

“Is…” Zag bit his lip. “Is everything alright between you and Thanatos? I noticed that there’s some tension between the two of you and uh…” he trailed off. “Yeah.”

As he leaned back in his seat, Hypnos contemplated his answer. “I want to say yes, but if I’m being honest… no, I don’t think everything’s alright. Things haven’t been alright in a very long time.”

Zag smiled encouragingly as he gently took a hold of the hand Hypnos was not using to hold his chocolate with and began to rub circles into it and nooooo, those aren’t butterflies it’s… gas. Yeah.

“When we were little we did everything together, you know? But then everyone started comparing us and it was always… “Thanatos this”, “Thanatos that”, and when they mentioned me it was, “Oh he has potential” or “If he just listened to his brother” or “It must be so lonely to have a brother who’s better than you” and…” Hypnos paused to take a sip of his hot chocolate. “And I’m sick of it! It’s to the point where even  _ he _ does it! It’s always “Hypnos do better” or “Hypnos don’t do this” and I’m so fucking tired! We don’t hang out anymore! We barely talk! We got to the same fucking university and I only see him when I go meet up with you at your dorm and he happens to be there!” He didn’t know when he’d begun gesturing or why he felt so out of breath, but Zag was staring at him with a look in his eyes Hypnos didn’t want to think about too hard because he was sure it was “pity”.

“He cares about you, he just… doesn’t know how to show it.” Zag said after a moment. “If it makes you feel better, he worries about you. I know; I live with him.”

“I just wish he’d worry for me… but not from afar. Does that make any sense?” Hypnos replied, suddenly tired.

Zag nodded. “You just want him to be your brother.”

“Yeah.” 

They stopped talking again after that, though this silence felt a lot lighter than the earlier ones.

“Do you want to go to the aquarium tomorrow? Not, like a date or anything haha, I just thought it might be nice to relax for a little bit? Especially after midterms and everything and… yeah.” Zag asked, cheeks and nose slightly flushed.

It was warm, which is why they were both slightly flushed, clearly. “Yeah, that sounds… really nice, actually.”

**Author's Note:**

> put in the comments or dm me if u think I should post the chat fic w the five of them. as always, twitter is @books_n_stuff19 and tumblr is chashisabadasswitch if ur interested. oh also discord is cat boy zag#1312 (hahaha). I hope u enjoyed!


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